MARC LEPINE: CRIMINAL OR FOLK HERO?
Most folk heroes started out as criminals, so they say. In 1989, it was clear to most people what Marc Lepine was: a criminal and a mass murderer. Twenty years later, it has changed: it is far from clear now. The simple fact that his name has not been forgotten and that his visibility, dare we say popularity, has increased, says a lot not only about the man but about the general public and its perceptions.

Friday, August 28, 2009

ASIAN MASS KILLERS BETTER THAN WHITE ONES?

We're not talking about serial killers here, which seems to be still a mostly white domain and a white occupation: the exclusive province of nice WASP boys and girls, but of spree killings of the true Rambo type. Anyway, Rambo is a myth: everyone knows that Asians are much better killers than whities (much to the displeasure of some supremacists). Take away his technology, superior weapons and especially air cover, and the white man is not an impressive warrior anymore. Mano a mano, the Asian seem to be much superior. And where do you want to go this time, Flashman, with such a ridiculous contention?

Nowhere in particular. I merely want to see where it leads us, my new theory. Spree killing seems to have become somewhat of a Competitive Sport, there are now very serious Spree Killing Organizations that give information and statistics on spree killings, do the counting of body bags and attribute ranks to killers. I wonder if they give medals? One thing for sure: spree killing has become an extreme sport, witness this:

Woo Bum-kon comes first for having killed 57, on 04-26-1982, at Gyeongsangnam-do, South Korea, with one rifle and grenades.

Seung-Hui Cho comes in fourth place for having killed 32, with a Walther P22 and a Glock 19, on 04-16-2007 at Blacksburg, Virginia, USA.

According to those statistics, Marc Lepine comes merely in twenty first place, with 14 confirmed victims that he killed on 12-06-1989 in Montreal, Quebec, Canada with a Ruger Mini-14 and hunting knife.

As Full Force Frank was very prone to remind us: ''Remember that fatalities are what count, not the wounded that eventually recover. If you worry about your rank, ratings and place in history, you should be worrying about body count.''

In general, whities are poseurs: it took two guys at Columbine, Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold, to kill 13, and the worst of them all is Kimveer Gill who killed only one and injured 19 at Dawson College (a hell of a flop). Clearly, as far as body count are concerned, Asian killers are much more impressive.

Some would have wished that ''Cho Seung-Hui had been Billy Bob Johnson'', talking about ''the VA Tech shooting and anti-Asian stereotypes'', some lament at the potential for bigotry and racism entailed, but the simple facts of the matter are really that Asians are better killers: more resolve, more cool, agility, fluidity, even grace and style, and on top of it: an exalted body count. For you, afficionados of Myamoto Musashi, you have to admit a fleeting admiration that escaped you for a moment, but that you immediately covered with this reasonable look you carry so well.

As those university professors will tell you, ''mass shootings seem clearly linked to one man’s colossal rage at an individual man or woman''. Quite true, but the problem is that all the ''anger management therapies'' in the world cannot change the fact that this world has tend to become more and more hostile and less just to its male citizens. Scores of ethic books, and for that matter the entire Western philosophy of democratic thinking, will at some time ultimately admit that in extreme situations there is a right to rebellion, a right to ''lash out'' that can be exercized at one's discretion. Of course there is a price to pay, and all who have done it have paid. But sometimes there are rewards: look at Lepine's immortality.

Some will say that the race of the shooter did not play a vital role in the Virginia Tech events, that if he had been white, the horror of what happened would be no less, nor greater. They talk about deeply-held stereotypes though, about men of various ethnic backgrounds, and it is true that those exist. It is true that ''we live in a white-dominated culture that exaggerates the athletic and erotic capabilities of black males'', and it is also true that ''...at the same time it denigrates those same possibilities within Asian men''. Stereotypes will say that: ''Asian men are near-sighted; always slight of build and small of penis, good in science and math, emotionally inarticulate (more than white men) and inscrutable''. But these painful, cruel, and inaccurate assumptions, even if they sometimes do real damage, are just that ''stereotypes''. Everyone knows they are not true. The truth is that the white man gets his ass kicked everywhere now and has for sometimes: from Vietnam to Afghanistan.

Some parts of the stereotypes may be true though, that young Asian men, from Korean and Chinese families, may be under pressure to do very well academically and to keep all emotions repressed. Small wonder then if, when they go on a killing spree, all that rage comes out fearfully. Also, it is quite understandable that young Chinese-Americans have a liking for extremely violent video games and role-playing games, because of all that emotion that is repessed at home. Asian boys definitely need an outlet. If we would be honest and true, we should recognize that, since the Korean war at least, the facts clearly show that Rambo is an Asian, and probably an Asian American at that!

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WHICH ONE ARE YOU?

Yes, which one are you? For the most part, five groups of people are interested in the Marc Lepine phenomenon: feminists, real women, bleeding heart liberals, criminalists and masculists. All are welcome here to join and post. So which one do you belong to? Maybe the above does not describe you accurately though, and you would like perhaps to add a new category to the pool. Feel free to do so, even if you should be the only one in it. It says nowhere that one cannot be his/her own planet!